Lutheran Devotional 22nd August 2025, Friday Message
TOPIC: Not the Real Hero
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Judges 6:14
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And the Lord turned to him [Gideon] and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” – Judges 6:14
The Bible gives us a picture of God—one we can understand. He’s a God of love in action. The Scripture does not dress up its human characters either. They’re real people—just like you and me: full of foibles and fears, always looking for a way out of doing things, if they can find it.
Today’s story is about Gideon, the farmer turned general of Judges 6-8.
The children of Israel, having deserted their God, have been delivered into the hand of Midian for seven years. Each year raiding Midianites and Amalekites would camp against them, devouring their produce and laying waste to their land.
About this time, an angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12b). To this, Gideon promptly replied, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 16:15b).
The divine irony of this statement was never more clear to anyone than it was to this Hebrew farmer. All of his brothers had been killed in valiant attempts to throw off the Midianite yoke. Now all that was left was a collection of the crushed and the cowardly, of whom Gideon himself was a first-class example.
God, however, had other plans for Gideon. “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man” (Judges 6:16b). Gideon and his men went on to destroy the altar of Baal and the Asherah pole. With a band of 300 dedicated men, Gideon routed a much larger force of Midianites, Amalekites, and others.
This is not to say that Gideon didn’t balk along the way. He needed signs, directions, and courage, and God provided these in abundance. So, Gideon spearheaded Israel’s victory, but as is the way with self-centered man, sooner or later, pride raises its head.
From the spoils, Gideon had an ephod fashioned, a kind of object to worship, and so Israel, true to form, did just that—worshipped it. “Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family” (Judges 8:27).
Sadly, Gideon forgot who the real Hero was, and so did the people. When will we learn to give God all the glory and depend on Him for His grace and kindness? It’s not easy. It goes against our grain since we’re always putting ourselves front and center.
We have an example far greater than Gideon, don’t we?
Jesus, God’s only Son, He waged a war we could never win—against sin, death, and the devil. God through Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him” (Colossians 2:15b). This victory is available to each of us. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).
If there is anything heroic in life, it is to live by faith. This takes real valor, the kind God supplies to abundance in His Son. As Paul wrote in Philippians 4:10, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, give us hearts of courage to live boldly for You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- Is it more realistic (believable) that the Bible pictures its characters with serious flaws, hangups, and negative attitudes? Does this sound like any real-life people you know?
- Why do you think God chose Gideon for the serious undertaking of making war?
- What heroic traits do you see in Jesus?
Today’s Readings:
1 Chronicles 20-22
1 Corinthians 14:1-20
This Daily Devotion is based on a sermon, “Gideon: the Farmer General,” by Rev. Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.
